The Two-Way

10:53 am

Tue May 1, 2012

Five 'Anarchists' Arrested For Allegedly Plotting To Blow Up Ohio Bridge

The FBI announced this morning that it "has arrested five people on terrorism charges, accusing them of planning to blow up a bridge near Brecksville, Ohio," our colleagues at WKSU report.

The station says the bridge on State Route 82 "crosses over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Brecksville and Northfield." And it adds that "the FBI says the five were identified as self-proclaimed anarchists with no connection to international terrorism. They're accused of conspiring to get C-4 explosives that would be detonated remotely."

According to CNN, the FBI says in a statement that "the public was never in danger from explosive devices ... [the suspects were] closely monitored by law enforcement ... [and the explosives were] inoperable and posed no threat to the public."

Cleveland's Plain Dealer writes that, according to the FBI, the men had "planted what they believed were explosive devices under the Ohio 82 bridge ... as part of a May Day protest today."

Saying the Occupy Cleveland group had nothing to do with the alleged plot, the group said it was nontheless canceling a protest scheduled in front of the General Electric building.

"The May Day Event that was sponsored by Occupy Cleveland, the North Shore AFL-CIO, Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Fight for a Fair Economy and SEIU Local 1 has been cancelled because of the alleged actions of the autonomous group arrested last night," the group said in a statement to our friends at StateImpact Ohio. "Occupy Cleveland has had affirmed principles of non-violence since its inception on October 6, 2011."